War in Ukraine. Ukrainians shot down a Russian Bayraktar analogue over the Black Sea

Russia, near Avdiyivka, organized one of the biggest tank attacks in the entire history of the war, but the Ukrainian armed forces not only successfully repelled it, but also crushed the enemy – the Russians lost a third of their tanks, Forbes writes.

Russia with 36 tanks and 12 infantry fighting vehicles attacked the road from Russian-occupied Tonenkoje to the free village of Umanskoye. The Ukrainian 25th brigade spotted a convoy of 48 vehicles – and hit it hard. 12 tanks and 8 infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed.

“How the 25th Brigade destroyed this record-breaking column of Russian tanks is not entirely clear from the visual evidence of the aftermath of the battle. But it’s easy to guess. A standard defense tactic of Ukrainian soldiers is to use drones to detect a Russian assault group and repel its accurate artillery fire,” the publication writes.

Also, even if the Russians did get at least some benefit from the cost of these 20 cars, the benefit was modest. The day after the attack, the Center for Defense Strategies described the fighting around Tonenki as “positional,” meaning neither side made much of an effort.

As the publication points out, such a large-scale attack by the Russian Federation highlights two contradictory trends. First of all, if a few weeks before Saturday’s attack, Russian regiments and brigades deployed mainly infantry for the attack west of Avdiyivka, then in recent days everything has changed, and the enemy has again started using armored vehicles in this direction.

“The fact that the Ukrainians were able to overcome such a large and well-armed Russian force shows another trend. Despite the difficulties associated with a lack of basic munitions, Ukrainian brigades are still able to mount a strong defense, often using a combination of mines, artillery, anti-tank missiles and drones,” writes Forbes.

It is noted that this tactic was due to the lack of ammunition, which prompted Ukraine to massively expand the production of drones. Where previously a Ukrainian artillery battery could fire 10 shells to defeat a Russian assault group, it now fires just five shells — and coordinates with nearby FPV operators to finish off the Russians, the publication notes.

“These tactics are expected to continue to shape the battlefield even as new munitions reach Ukraine.” In the coming weeks and months, the Ukrainians will likely continue to defend against Russian assault groups, largely by coordinating their howitzers and drones. Only now can there be more artillery than in recent months,” Forbes writes.

Russian losses

In the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian armed forces have killed another 710 Russians, so the total enemy losses have increased to 442,880. The Russian Federation also lost a lot of equipment and weapons: 20 tanks, 17 armored fighting vehicles, one anti-aircraft defense device and 32 artillery systems. The number of destroyed Russian tanks approached 7 thousand. units.

As noted by military expert Alexander Kovalenko, today almost no new tanks are produced in Russia. Russian tank factories are mainly engaged in the reactivation and modernization of vehicles produced in previous decades.